...[T]wo things have become very clear. One is that Wizards management is completely committed to the Gilbert Arenas/Caron Butler/Antawn Jamison trio; otherwise, Jamison would have been traded to Cleveland and Arenas would have not been re-signed. The other is that the Big Three need another borderline all-star type of player to get this team to be a championship contender...To get to that point, the Big Three needs to become a Big Four...

What specific trades would work? Obviously, I'd talk to the Toronto Raptors and see if they would be willing to trade Chris Bosh. I'd talk to Milwaukee about Michael Redd, Charlotte about Gerald Wallace, Detroit about Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince, Phoenix about Jason Richardson, Atlanta about Joe Johnson, and others.

*One hypothetical trade I particularly like is swapping the fourth pick, Mike James' expiring contract and Nick Young for Hamilton/Prince and the 15th pick. Detroit could then draft Harden to replace Rip, for example, and the Wizards could upgrade their wing by adding an ace catch-and-shoot player like Hamilton or a premier perimeter defender like Prince. Then, with the 15th pick, the Wizards could draft Blair, Henderson or someone else that could fill a role.

*The Wizards could offer a similar package for Wallace or Richardson or step up their offer for Johnson or Bosh (Young, Andray Blatche, Etan Thomas and the fourth pick for Johnson and the 19th pick, for example)...

Michael Lee's take:...
I like the idea of talking to the Detroit Pistons about Tayshaun Prince, who is owed about $21 million over the next two seasons and makes identical money to Caron Butler. He is also the type of the player that the Wizards will realistically get this summer -- a borderline all-star caliber player who fits a specific role. Prince is a defensive stopper (at least he was before this season) who can guard multiple positions and also score in spurts.

The fact that Wizard writers and bloggers are talking about the rumors and mentioning the Pistons is interesting, but the fact that Joe Dumars is looking to change his team is known so we can expect more of that until Joe does make the moves he is going to make.

It would be hard to envision Joe Dumars making the trade proposed here for just the 4th pick in the NBA draft and expiring contracts. It would, in essence, be trading Rip Hamilton for James Harden, and that's not a forward move, it's a lateral(or worse) move for next season. If Joe were able to draft Thabeet while trading Rip or Tayshaun, then Dumars could look to sign Ben Gordon/Hedo Turkoglu and still go after a player like Carlos Boozer.

So if the Wizards are not lucky enough to grab one of the first two picks, and they really want to turn their big three into a big four, they are going to have to put together a better offer. Something like that may come down to who is available when the Wizards pick. If Thabeet is still on the board, Washington and the Pistons may be able to work something out. Joe would have to be convinced that he was going to come in and contribute right away, something that scouts are not convinced of. We will all find out the draft positions when the NBA holds the lottery on Tuesday, May 19th. Stay tuned....

{*Used to separate paragraphs. There are only 4 actual paragraphs from the article posted here.}

{Updated to make clear there were two different writers in the Wizard Insider link}